He Always Remembers
by Riniel Haerion
Summary: Mike is the eldest of the Johnson Brothers, and remembers what it was like when they were children. He remembers back when they were still a somewhat loving family before god-powers.
1. Chapter 1

Little five year old Mike Johnson was preparing himself.

Just a few months ago his mommy was telling him that he was going to be getting a new little brother or sister, and although he wasn't sure in the beginning, he was now extremely excited. In just a few years he'd have someone to play with and share his toys with. He wasn't fond of having to share his mommy and daddy with the new sibling, because the little guy wasn't even born yet and he was already taking up so much of mommy's time. But he liked walking into the new nursery filled with toys and little baby clothes. From all the blue, Mike knew he was going to be getting a baby brother.

And now he was sitting in a hospital waiting room by himself because his cousin Olaf hadn't arrived yet to keep an eye on him while his mommy had his baby brother. He was too jittery and jumpy to even think about watching the cartoons on the TV that one of the nice nurse ladies had changed it to for him. He had been there for a really long time without a peep from his father or the arrival of his cousin Olaf. Maybe waiting would go by faster if cousin Olaf was there, because he was always really fun to watch even if he smelled funny a lot of the time. But Olaf never arrived, and his daddy finally walked into the waiting room with a soft smile on his usually hard-lined face.

"Mikey, do you want to meet your baby brother?" He asked softly.

Mike quickly bounced off his seat and nodded, grinning. He trotted after his daddy into one of the hospital rooms to see his mommy all tired-looking but smiling. In her arms was a little bundle of blankets, and Mike could just barely see a small pink fist clenching and unclenching. His daddy picked him up and set him gently next to his mommy, and he got a better look at the little baby in his mommy's arms. He was really tiny, with blue eyes and wispy blond hair on top of his head. The fist he had seen had escaped from one of the little mittens he was wearing.

"Meet your little brother, Anders." His mommy said quietly.

"Anders is tiny...Was I that tiny?" Mike asked, leaning over to poke Anders' cheek.

"You were a little bit bigger than Anders, but you were still very small." His mommy ruffled his hair.

When his mommy finally came back home, Mike realized that having a baby in the house could get very, very loud. Sometimes he'd wake up in the middle of the night to Anders crying really loudly, but mommy and daddy would still be asleep half of the time. So Mike decided it was up to him to grab his blanket and walk to Anders' nursery to see if he could comfort the little baby. He couldn't hold Anders, because mommy said that Anders was still too little for Mike to hold properly. So what he would do is stick his hand in through the crib's bars and pet Anders like a kitty. Most of the time that would calm Anders down, and sometimes his little brother would let out a gurgled laugh and grab Mike's finger with his own tiny hand.

And then most mornings his mommy or daddy would find him asleep next to the crib with one hand still caught in the bars and Anders' little fist clenched on one of the fingers. Daddy would sometimes scold him about it, saying that he was going to hurt his arm from falling asleep so often in that position. But mommy would just smile and say that Mike was going to be a very good brother, and that he should be proud that Anders already trusted him so well even though he was only a few weeks old. Mike was proud, and he knew that he was going to try to always be there for him.


	2. Sickly Little Boy

Seven year old Mike was already very responsible for his age. He took care of himself, but he also took care of his little brother Anders whenever his mommy wasn't really doing the best job of it. He excused daddy, because he was always at work. But sometimes Mike knew that mommy tried to forget about Anders. He remembered daddy mentioning something like 'postpartum depression', but Mike wasn't entirely sure what that was. He just knew that mommy looked really sad sometimes, and especially when she looked at Anders. Mike thought Anders looked fine though. Although there were a few things that made the little two year old different from others.

First of all, Anders was tiny. Mike didn't exactly have many other toddlers to compare him to, but from what he could tell (and what his parents would say) Anders was small for his age. Second, he got sick a lot. It felt like every other week Anders would end up getting the sniffles or something. It scared Mike sometimes when he went to go check on his little brother at night and he'd see Anders cough so hard that his entire little body shook with every cough. Mike would end up curling around his little brother and rubbing his back until the coughs went away and Anders was just sniffling in his sleep.

The last thing Mike noticed was that Anders didn't really talk a lot in front of people. When he was with Mike, he'd just be babbling away. He'd start off saying something in normal English, but then he'd go off babbling in some weird baby talk. Well, sometimes he'd babble like that in front of mommy and daddy and their eyes would widen, but Mike just thought it was because Anders sounded weird whenever he was babbling. Other than that, he'd just stay completely silent. If strangers would coo at him he'd just stare at them in mild interest before turning away to more pressing matters (usually the toy that he had in his hand at the time.)

But Mike didn't really think anything bad about Anders, and he certainly didn't try to forget about him like mommy would do sometimes. He'd keep track of when Anders needed to take which medicine when, and he'd climb on the counters to get food or juice for his little brother whenever he wanted it. Mike always tried to give Anders milk, but the toddler would just scrunch up his face and squeal that he wanted juice. Maybe that's why he was so tiny. If he actually drank his milk Mike bet that he would grow even taller than daddy!

Speaking of their daddy, Mike swore that Anders was mesmerized by their father whenever he came home from work. He'd always toddle up to him and insistently hold his arms out to be picked up. And daddy was always happier to do things for Anders than mommy was, so Anders always liked daddy better. He'd take Anders and Mike to the beach and the aquarium a lot. Mike really liked swimming around with his daddy, but he knew Anders really liked going to the aquarium to stare at the brightly colored fish. Mike really didn't see the appeal as much as the toddler did, but he couldn't help but grin when Anders practically screamed with joy when daddy brought home a fish tank with many multicolored fish.

The night when daddy had brought home the fish tank, Mike went to Anders room to do his usual check up on his little brother to make sure he was okay, only to see the little boy still sitting half-asleep in front of the illuminated fish tank. Mike walked over and sat down next to him, prodding him a bit to wake him up a bit more. It didn't really work, but Mike spoke anyways.

"Andy, you have to sleep now! The fishies will still be there tomorrow, don't worry." He lifted his brother up.

"Fishies?" Anders said, pointing to the tank, yawning.

"Yes Andy, fishies. Maybe tomorrow daddy will take us to the aquarium so you can see the big fishies again! Or to the beach so you can look at the pretty shells like always." Mike smiled as he hauled himself off the floor with a toddler wrapped around him.

"Big fishies..." Anders mumbled, falling asleep.

Mike smiled as he carried the toddler to his room, and by the time he put the little boy to bed, he was already snoring peacefully with a grin on his face. He was probably dreaming about the fish. As Mike walked out, he nearly ran into his mother, and he looked up at her with confusion in his eyes.

"Have you been checking up on your little brother every night?" She asked.

Mike nodded. "To make sure he's okay."

She gave him a sad smile. "Thank you so much, Mikkel. I have trouble with Anders sometimes you know. Mommy gets very sad. But he has such a good brother taking care of him I know not to worry. You've made me very proud."

Mike grinned up at her, before yawning in himself. And for the first time in a while, his mother picked him up and carried him to his own bedroom, humming a lullaby until he fell asleep.

After that, mommy was much better about taking care of Anders. She even smiled more often around him. It made Mike happy.


	3. Snow

"Come on Ty, get more snow! We're gonna make a huuuuge fort!" Little 6 year old Anders was completely bundled up to the point where it was probably difficult to move, yet it wasn't stopping him from attempting to make a snow fort with his 3 year old brother.

Mike himself was just watching from the doorway as the two little balls of coats continued to collect more of the snow that was surrounding the house to build onto their fort. They were actually doing pretty well, what with Ty constantly stumbling around because of how heavy his jacket was. Mike knew he could probably help out their cause of making a snow fort, but he was never really fond of snow at all and preferred to stay inside whenever he could during the colder season. But Anders and Ty were obsessed with the stuff. Ty just naturally gravitated to things that were cold. Once their mum found him sitting in the refrigerator for no apparent reason other than 'it feels good'. Mum didn't question it at all, because she absolutely adored Ty.

It was weird to Mike, because he still remembered from when Anders was a baby and how she barely even looked at him. She did get better, yes, but it wasn't what Mike thought a mum and son should be like. He'd seen friends at school, constantly hugging their parents and showing so much love. He never saw that with Anders and their mum, or even himself and mum. But he definitely saw that with Ty. They loved each other very much, and mum wasn't sad like she used to be. Mike only saw those looks sometimes. Just small little looks that he knew were very sad about something. Maybe it was dad's fault, because he was gone so much more often than he used to be. He wasn't even there when Ty was born, like he was with Anders. And when he did come home he was always yelling and arguing with mum that it actually made Mike scared.

But dad wasn't here right now, and Anders and Ty were happily attempting to make what was supposed to be a snow fort.

"Aren't you going to join them?" Mike jumped and turned to see his mum standing there, looking at him expectantly. "You look very serious, are you alright?"

"Well...I don't really like the snow." Mike answered, looking out the window again. "And I was just thinking about things I guess. About dad again..."

"Don't worry about it Mikkel. He won't hurt you or your brothers. You shouldn't be thinking about such things. Now go out and join your brothers. They probably need some help with whatever they're doing. They need their big brother." That was what Mike was waiting for. The statement that his little brothers needed him.

She always knew how to convince MIke to do things. So he put on his jacket and trekked out to where his younger brothers were. Ty was still completely bundled up in his coat and sweaters, but Anders had already shed off his winter coat and was left with his sweaters and an extremely red face. He wasn't even wearing his gloves, those were abandoned on top of his coat as well. But he didn't seem to notice it at all, because he was too busy trying to build up a wall.

"Anders put on your coat. You get sick so easily, mum won't be happy." Mike said, dusting off the snow off his brother's curly head, and going to pick up his coat and gloves.

"But it got really hot! I feel fine now!" Anders pouted at him, and gave him the eyes that always helped him get his way.

"Put them on, Anders." Mike was immune to those eyes by now. "Look at Ty, he's still wearing all his clothes properly and he's three!"

Anders rolled his eyes. "That's only cuz he can't even take them off without falling over! I was watching him! He couldn't do it!" Anders said poking his younger brother.

"I can do it! I can!" Ty argued. "I just dun wanna. I dun wan' mum to be mad." He nodded, as if that finished the argument.

Mike looked pointedly at Anders, and the younger boy let out a loud, obviously fake, sigh. "Fiiiiiine. You're no fun Mike."

"Good. Now, back to what's important. You're not exactly doing the best job with the snow fort. But I can help, and mum said cousin Olaf was coming over today. So maybe if we finish fast enough we'll be able to hit him with a bunch of snowballs when he passes by the house!" Mike had a wicked grin on his face, that his two little brothers quickly imitated.

Even if Mike was supposed to be the responsible older brother, that didn't stop him from getting into mischief.


	4. Shopping

Mike couldn't help but curse their mother, because she had sent them out to get the groceries for the week, ignoring the fact that Mike had no car that he could drive out there, and three brothers that he had to keep track of. So he was forced to lead a troop towards the store. Anders following close behind him, doodling on the list they had brought along with them so they knew what to buy. Ty trailed along a bit, pulling a red wagon with Axl sitting happily on it shrieking about things that they passed by. Mike sighed, motioning to Ty to go a bit faster so he could keep up. The ten year old nodded and started pulling Axl along, who immediately felt the new speed and shrieked joyously.

The store wasn't as bad as a problem as Mike thought it would be, although his brothers were always trying to sneak junk food and other sugary snacks into the cart when Mike wasn't looking, but he was very quick to swat the offending brother's hand and send them back to put the item away. The only brother who managed to get anything was Axl, whose puppy dog eyes were a force to be reckoned with (although later on in life Mike would no longer be affected by those eyes) and Mike ended up allowing the toddler to get a brightly colored lollipop much to the annoyance of his two older siblings. Mike quickly counted out the money that their mother had given them, and allowed them to chose their own as well.

He couldn't help but smile at the grins that formed on Ty and Anders' faces when they were picking out a candy. It was still a total rarity that they'd ever get sweets, and as long as they ate them before they arrived home so their mother wouldn't suspect, it should be fine. Ty ended up picking a blue one, while Anders favored a bright pink looking one. Ty giggled at him and Anders hit him in the shoulder.

"It's watermelon! Stop laughing!"

Mike quickly separated the two and herded them all to the checkout, where they quickly got all of their groceries in bags and made their way out of the store before they broke anything. They must have been a sight to see, walking down the streets. Mike was in the lead holding four plastic bags, with Anders close behind carrying two. Ty wasn't carrying any, but he was pulling the red wagon that had become a lot heavier now that Axl was accompanied by three bags of groceries. But the toddler didn't mind at all as he was still happily sucking on his lollipop, now nearly just the stick in the center.

"This really hurts my hands Mike, can't we try and put another bag with Axl? The plastic is digging into my hands..." Anders pouted as he tried to adjust the plastic bags he was carrying.

Mike looked over his shoulder at Anders and shook his head. "Axl is probably squished enough right now, or do you want to switch with Ty so you can pull the wagon?" He looked at Ty's red face as he continued to pull on the wagon.

Anders sighed, before stopping to hand Ty the bags and grabbing the handle to drag the wagon. In the end, it ended up not being much better because Anders still whined loudly about the wagon being too heavy, but at least he wasn't right next to Mike whining about it. Axl was completely oblivious to the entire event because he was chewing on the lollipop stick with a renewed fervor as if he had gotten a new lollipop at some point.

It was sweet relief for the brothers when they finally arrived at their home, and they were quick to haphazardly put away the food so they could run off to their rooms before their mother could make them do any other chores. Anders actually ended up picking up Axl and dragging him out because the toddler nearly knocked over a pile of pots and pans. He even managed to wrench the lollipop stick out of his mouth, only to deal with the toddler screaming and yanking on Anders' curly blond hair.

It was a mad dash to their respective rooms (Anders was quick to get rid of the still crying Axl in his shared room with Ty while Anders ran into his and Mike's room and locked the door.

"Y'know I never thought buying the groceries would be this labor intensive." He heaved as he tenderly rubbed his hair and hissing in pain.

"No, you just suck at dealing with Axl." Mike grinned at Anders and threw a pillow at him.


End file.
